The San Francisco band Grass Widow braids apparitional vocals over distorte… Read Full Bio ↴The San Francisco band Grass Widow braids apparitional vocals over distorted post-punk riffs. At the center of its songs are the troika harmonies of Lillian Maring (drums), Hannah Lew (bass) and Raven Mahon (guitar), who contribute vocals equally, echoing the band's process.

Grass Widow's lyrics, matched with its cautiously joyous beats, reflect its vision of the world: a mysterious Ozlike land in which the surface looks radiant and colorful but with a thinly veiled underside that reveals a fearful and fateful ethereal reality.

Grass Widow mesmerizes with its bewitching tales and eerie, obsessive melodies. But at the core of its captivation are the vocal harmonies. "When we play live," Maring says, "we'll all be chiming in vocally, and we'll make eye contact; it's like we're singing to each other."

Submarine
Grass Widow Lyrics

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First inherit this container
Necessary parts in tow
Kept deep
Low down, open
Now in the space
All is manufactured
Make so many
Have to let them out to float away

Holding their breath
Passing us by
Airtight vessel
With old debris
Piece together
Up and over
If I could take out the hours
Find a way to be there
Here I am only one whole
Holding their breath

As they pass by
Gone with the tide

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Grass Widow's Submarine refer to a container, containing necessary parts kept deep down, and all that's inside is manufactured. The purpose of the container is to create and make so many products that they eventually have to be let out to float away. The people inside are holding their breath as they pass us by, showing that they are suffocating inside of the airtight vessel filled with old debris. They piece together their lives to try and move up and over, but time is running out as they watch helplessly gone with the tide.

The song could also be understood to be about the world around us where we are constantly producing things and using resources at a rapid pace. We are suffocating ourselves and our planet, and the vessel could represent the current course of our society, moving towards destruction.

Line by Line Meaning

First inherit this container
Begin with this structure

Necessary parts in tow
Critical components are included

Kept deep
Stored in the depths

Low down, open
Far below and accessible

Now in the space
In the void

All is manufactured
Everything is fabricated

Make so many
Create many of them

Have to let them out to float away
Must release them to drift off

Holding their breath
Pausing to wait

Passing us by
Moving beyond us

Airtight vessel
Hermetically sealed container